Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the
world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to
over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a
wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history,
humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.

If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced
features available, you will need to register first. Registration is
absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!

This month marks my 4th month of training. Though i'm still very new to Aikido, I have to say that things are starting to make a little more sense. And I mean a little.

I was asked by my Sensei tonight after class whether or not I wanted to test for rank in the Aikikai. I thought it was very thoughtful of him and showed just how nice of a guy he really is. He told me that my decision to formally test would have no effect on my standing or training in the class and was purely for my benefit if I decided to.

I came from a MMA school that put little to no emphasis on testing. I trained there for nearly 3 years and only tested once. Not because I didn't know the material, I just didn't care to get rank.

For me, Aikido is the only martial art that i've ever taken that I feel I would like to continue training in as far as i'm able to go. I informed him that I would indeed like to test for my 6th kyu and he informed ME that it would be soon. He told me that I would have absolutely no problems testing for this one and not to worry, but i'm terrible about being prepared tests. I know that I know it all, I just get too darn antsy.

Oh yeah, and a few weeks ago I was shown the "20 year technique." What a perfect name.